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The
Chess Jerk
I agree with Alex Heard's
article "Sore
Loser": Garry Kasparov was a total jerk. I closely followed both last
year's and this year's matches with great enthusiasm, and have always had a lot
of respect for Garry. He is a true genius in chess--the best there is. So, I
did not expect him to say all those things that he said.
Garry
claims that the second game was the one that led to his downfall, and almost
accused IBM of cheating. Leaving aside the fact that IBM would not even
consider doing this and risking its credibility and reputation, it is a
preposterous charge because whoever stepped in to help the machine would be a
better player than Kasparov. Alex Heard is right. Perhaps we need another
spokesman for the human race. This one has just become another "sports
jerk."
--Philippos
Peleties
Kasparov's Deep Blues
I couldn't disagree more with
Alex Heard's article "Sore Loser." This kind of personification of the computer does
nobody any good. Garry Kasparov does not owe Deep Blue an apology because Deep
Blue is not a human and has no feelings. It is a pile of microchips. There is
nobody to offend.
Garry acted like a human, and
it made me proud to be human, too. I am also proud of his fighting stance at
the press conference. He said exactly what I wanted to say: This stupid machine
will not definitively beat its masters. And then there was a roar of approval
from the audience.
Do the
programmers of Deep Blue deserve an ovation? Not to the same extent. They are
still the challengers in this saga of man vs. machine. And not one of the
programmers could have beaten Kasparov in chess--not even close.
--Justin
K. Hertog
New York City
I Want
My FDA
I have one objection to
"FDA Smoke
Rings," by Jack Shafer: The regulation of tobacco doesn't mean that adults
are living in a childproof world. Sure, the FDA's efforts are done in the name
of kids. But the goal is to have fewer persons become addicted to nicotine at
an age when information about the health hazards is likely to be ignored. Many
teen-agers are not moved by the possibility of an early death in four decades.
But if smoking is addictive, then it makes sense to try to keep tobacco out of
the hands of kids who are too young to take the warnings seriously.
The FDA's
regulations do not make it harder for adults to buy cigarettes. The advertising
regulations may make it harder for a new product to enter the market, or to
boost brand-switching. But adults can still buy cigarettes. (I am sure,
however, that there are many in the anti-tobacco movement who would be prepared
to ban smoking because of the possibility of lung damage from secondhand
smoke--now that would be trying to create a childproof world.)
-- Thomas
J. Mikula
Bethesda, Md.
He's No
Bill of Rights
Jack Shafer's "FDA Smoke
Rings" and Jacob Weisberg's "Clinton
Turns Yellow" complement each other on the same subject: Big Brother Is
Watching. William Jefferson Clinton's "abysmal record on liberty," as Weisberg
calls it, is, indeed, a fatal twist of irony, incredible and troubling.
Clinton is willing to toss
away our First, Fourth, and possibly Second amendments with a simple flick of
the pen. He seems motivated by a deep-seated longing to heal and protect, but
this is not a sufficient warrant for violating the privacy of an individual's
rights and trampling on the Constitution.
I'm weary
of the perennial bad excuse for cameras, censorship, and regulations: It's for
your own protection and safety. I understand Clinton's utopian aspirations, but
no society will ever find true peace and stability. There will always be a
small percentage who cannot govern their own lives and who abuse freedom, but
that shouldn't mean that we all have to pay the price by losing our
constitutional rights.
-- Jackie Marcus
American
Meltdown
James Traub's review of
Nathan Glazer's We Are All Multiculturalists Now , titled "I Was Wrong,"
really grabbed me. I grew up in the 1950s, at a time when the concept of the
United States as a melting pot was widely preached in our schools and everyday
life. Later, in the 1960s, we were told that the melting pot did not take dark
meat. But now that there is clear cultural and biological assimilation, I have
been surprised to see that large constituencies actually try to categorize
themselves by racial or ethnic labels.
Like
Glazer, I have questioned affirmative action and dreaded the creation of a
legal caste/quota system. Like Glazer, I now believe that events and processes
are stronger than government policies and political mindsets. I find myself on
a similar journey of shifting concepts and renewed belief in the melting pot
but, like Glazer, my journey is in process, and the questions loom much larger
than my answers.
--Bill
McMichael
Oak Hill, Va.
Ratings
to Riches
Hooray for
David Plotz's "Domestic Goddess Dethroned," an assessment of Roseanne's self-made
downfall. While I wouldn't go so far as to praise the early years of her show,
Plotz succinctly tracked the devolution of what started out as a very good
idea. How ironic that a program once watched by poor and wealthy viewers alike
ultimately perished because its creator couldn't handle the move from being
poor to being wealthy herself.
--Erich
Van Dussen
New York City
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